To provide the green power for the increasing adoption of Electric Vehicles and to start to decarbonise the heating for homes and places of work, Northern Ireland needs to double its renewable generating capacity in the next ten years. To do so effectively will require the intermittency of supply that accompanies renewables to be addressed. This can be done by deploying large scale batteries across the province. The sites selected will need to have major electricity grid connections.

These are hard to obtain and expensive to create but the good news is that NI Water already owns over 3,000 widely distributed grid connected sites.

NI Water has recently installed a state-of-the-art battery energy storage system at one of its largest water treatment plants at Dunore Point. The 4.1 MW battery powered by the existing onsite solar farm means that during periods of low customer demand, NI Water can store surplus renewable energy to use later during peak times. The company can therefore power its operations at a lower cost and keep water flowing. The battery also has flexibility to provide power back to the grid when required, to help support grid stability and provide greater resilience in the network to benefit NI society and economy. By generating its own renewable power, NI Water will reduce its costs and generate income from this installation.